The best psychological thrillers out this month: The Waiting List by Matilda Wilding, The
The Waiting List is available now
The Waiting List by Matilda Wilding (Raven Books £18.99, 320pp)
The opening lines of this book – ‘I have heard it said that having a child is like tearing your heart out and watching it walk around outside your body for the rest of your life’ – drive the psychological power of this extraordinary tale.
Olivia has finally succeeded in having a son, Max, but has now discovered she has a fatal heart condition which can only be treated with a transplant.
Her job in a doctor’s surgery means she has access to information about possible donors and this leads her to contemplate a drastic solution.
The book becomes a meditation on the value of different lives and the importance of parents to their children.
It verges on the far-fetched at times but is pulled back from the brink by an assured and considered writing style and a brilliantly unpredictable ending.
The Weekend by T. M. Logan (Zaffre £16.99, 416pp)
Expectations are always high with the publication of a new title by Logan who has sold millions of books.
Regular readers won’t be disappointed by his latest offering but it’s also a good starting point for newbies. His trademark straightforward storytelling style relies on creating very believable everyday characters in unsensational circumstances from which he manages to conjure extraordinary drama.
This time it’s a group of six friends getting together for a weekend in a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales.
A raging storm forces them to take shelter. So far, so ordinary. But when they discover a backpack stuffed with a huge amount of money things take a turn.
At first they all agree they will hand the money to the police as soon as they can. But as the storm goes on we discover various members of the group have motives for changing their minds, with spectacular results. A treat. As usual.
What I Told My Friends is available now
What I Told My Friends by Alice Leigh (Canelo Crime £9.99, 352pp)
Chloe, a new scholarship girl worried about fitting in at an elite girls’ boarding school, is keeping her past from her previous school very much a secret.
When the head girl Emily Ashbourne is found dead under the bell tower, the roots of this dark story begin. Chloe has her reasons for disliking Emily but its music teacher, Mr Aides, who is charged with murder.
The story is told in two timelines. One starts 20 years later with Chloe meeting Mr Aides as he is being released from prison, with a view to telling him her secrets. But secrets are never straightforward.
The tension of the two plotlines works well along with the main characters. A traditional tale told with charm.